Disclaimer: Credit goes to JK Rowling...(and a few other companies, people, etc. who probably own a little bit of The Boy Who Lived...)

A/N: This was my first fanfic EVER. I wrote this about two years ago, WAAAAY before OOTP, so there are a lot of things that won't fit in with canon. My writing was horrible, and I switched back and forth between plot lines...but I still think this is a pretty darn good story. However, it is the only thing I have EVER completed in all the fanfics I've ever tried to write...so I thought I'd just post it online...It is a love triangle sort of thing...Hermione likes Harry, Ron, and there's some Draco in there too...so if you don't like this...then don't read it... Well, enjoy my REALLY old fanfic...

Chapter Seventeen - In A World Of Their Own

"So this is death?" Draco asked himself. He looked around and he seemed to be outside of himself. He was in the Shrieking Shack watching him stab himself, watching Ginny crying, Ron moaning, Harry falling to the ground, clutching his scar, and his father screaming in pain. He tiptoed over and reached out an arm and slowly touched his father's arm, then what happened next seemed to come out of nowhere, there was a blinding flash of light and Lucius was standing next to Draco, and together they watched what was happening in the Shack. It seemed that Lucius had died too.

"Father?" Draco said, looking up at his father, who was standing next to him. Lucius nodded and put his hand on Draco's shoulder, and then they disappeared from the Shack. They were back inside their mansion, though they were still watching from the outside.

Draco watched as his mother, Narcissa, walked into his bedroom to tuck Draco in, he must have only been five or six years old.

........

"Mummy, can't I wait for daddy to come home?" Draco asked.

"No hunny, you need to sleep, it's already past your bedtime and tomorrow's a big day for you...with your birthday party and all." Narcissa said and kissed his forehead.

"But mummy..."

"I'm sorry, Draco." Narcissa said sweetly and blew out the candles lighting the room. She was about to close the door behind her when Draco spoke again.

"Why does he always have to work late, I never see him anymore." He said, starting to tear up.

Narcissa stopped in her tracks and turned around, "You know he has to work a lot to get his reputation back up with the Ministry. He did a lot of bad things a few years ago so he has to gain their trust again, you know that."

"I do, mummy, but does that mean he has no time for me?"

Narcissa looked as if she were about to cry herself, "Good night." She said and closed the door.

Lucius looked down at Draco and grasped his shoulder harder. Lucius opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he saw the bedroom door open again.

A ten year younger Lucius treaded softly across the floor and over to Draco's bed. It seemed that he was fast asleep, but then he sat up with a snap and said, "Daddy?"

"Shh...Draco, your mother would be furious with me if she found out I woke you in the middle of the night." Lucius laughed, his voice warm and pleasant.

Draco nodded his head and patted the bed next to him, motioning his father to sit down. Lucius first lit a single candle and then sat down next to his son with a book in his arms.

"What's that?" Draco asked pointing at the book.

"It's a story that I'm going to read to you." Lucius smiled, the candlelight flickering around the room. Draco grinned and sat up attentively, staring at his father, waiting for him to start.

Lucius opened up the book and began to read a story to Draco, and when he was about halfway through, Draco nodded off to sleep and fell into his father's lap. Lucius slowly closed the book and held Draco in his arms.

"I love you, Draco." Lucius whispered.

"Mmm...daddy..." He mumbled in his sleep with a smile.

........

Draco looked away from his old self and looked up at his father who was still holding his shoulder tightly.

"Our happiest memory..." Draco beamed and Lucius nodded. Draco moved out of Lucius' grasp and then turned around and hugged him. Lucius, surprised by the sudden attack of a hug smiled and hugged his son back.

"I really do love you, Draco."

"I..." Draco sighed, "I love you too." Draco pulled out of the hug and looked up at his father, "How did you die?"

"I knew all along that we would be linked forever by hate. When you told me, I lied and acted like I didn't know. I was mostly in shock that you would have been smart enough to figure out that we would be connected." Lucius replied, his smile fading.

"But...then how did you..."

"The only way for us to break the link is if one of us kills themselves and then that automatically kills the other since we were linked through hate."

"I don't understand..."

"You killed yourself, didn't you?"

Draco nodded.

"Well since we were linked, I died too..."

Draco looked down at his wrist which the Dark Mark was now fading and was a light gray color. "You deserved it though..."

Lucius hung his head, "Sadly, yes, I know I did...but you must understand..."

"I understand enough...all I ever wanted to do is be more like me, and less of what you wanted me to be." Draco interrupted.

While they were talking, they didn't notice that they had moved from their mansion and were now in the middle of nowhere. They were standing on a dirt road in a grassy plain, and just ahead there was a fork in the road.

To the left, the fork led to a place with blue skies, grassy plains, and a faint sound of people singing. The fork to the right led to a place with thunderstorms, steep plateaus, and the muffled sound of screaming.

Once Draco and Lucius reached the fork in the road, it was obvious which way they would go. They both started walking to the fork on the left, when suddenly Lucius started screaming out in agony. An invisible force pushed him away back to the fork in the road.

"Father?!" Draco yelled, reaching out for his father. He started to run back to get him but there seemed to be an invisible wall holding him back. He watched as Lucius grimly got to his feet and slouched off down the road toward the thunderstorms and screaming.

"NO! DADDY! NO!" Draco cried, but he had no choice but to walk on down his path, he had a mission, he had to find Hermione.

........

Before Draco had any time to even search for Hermione, there was a blinding flash of light and Hermione was standing next to him. Draco, gaping at the fact that he wasn't expecting it to be this easy, stared over at Hermione, who looked peacefully back at him.

They were both standing in a grassy plain, next to a tall, bushy tree. The sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Birds were chirping and flying around in the tree top.

Hermione looked up captivatingly at the tree, unaware of Draco gazing at her.

"I need to explain..." Draco said before realizing it.

Hermione held up a hand to silence him and said, "I already know."

He shook his head, "How?"

She smiled serenely and looked back at him, "I've been watching."

"Oh...so you know...that..." Draco trailed off.

"Yep." Hermione nodded.

"How do we...er...switch places then? Do you know?" Draco asked.

"I'm not exactly sure...but what I do know is that we have exactly ten minutes to say or do anything we want, before the Spell is complete." Hermione said wearily.

"Oh...ok...well..." Draco said, fidgeting around with his robes and staring at his feet. He didn't know what to say. These would be his last words to Hermione...

Before they knew it...there was another flash of light and they appeared in a garden. They both immediately recognized it as the garden that was outside the Great Hall the night of the Yule Ball.

Draco and Hermione watched in silence as they watched the memory of that night.

........

Draco led Hermione out into the gardens and sat her down on a bench next to a fountain. He sat down next to her and held her in his arms. They looked up at the stars in the sky.

"What is all this about?" Hermione asked.

"I've always wondered what it would be like..." He said softly. Hermione sat up and turned around to look at him.

"What would what be like?" She said looking him in the eye, though he didn't look at her.

Draco just sighed softly. "To be with one of God's angels..."

"Aww, Draco..." Hermione shed a single tear. Draco looked down at Hermione and wiped the tear off her face. "I...I..." She began.

He interrupted her. "Shh...don't speak." He put his finger on her lips, and Hermione closed her eyes. Draco leaned in and kissed her.

.........

Both Draco and Hermione were standing there awkwardly watching their own happiest memory together...they both knew what had happened next: Draco asked Hermione out, but she said no, and then Draco blew up in her face.

The memory ended before it got to that part, they were now back on the grassy plain, standing alone by the tree.

"Do you remember what happened next?" Draco whispered, tiptoeing closer over to Hermione.

She hung her head and stared at the ground. "Yeah..."

"I'm sorry for being that way..." Draco blurted. "It wasn't my fault."

Hermione looked up real quick. "Wasn't your fault?" She asked disbelievingly.

"I was under the Imperious Curse...by my father." Draco replied, inching closer to Hermione.

"Look, forget it, ok? I forgive you for everything you've ever done. You've proven to me what really lies in your heart..."

"You really forgive me?"

Hermione nodded.

"I'm really sorry." Draco said feeling guilty.

"Don't worry about it, Draco. You've made the ultimate sacrifice just for me. Without you, I wouldn't be alive now...or really...in a few minutes...you gave up your life for me and for that I'm eternally grateful. You gave me life...when I should have been dead...thank you..." Hermione said, slightly smiling, with tears pouring down her face.

Draco reached out and hugged her. "We'll be eternally linked by love."

Hermione hugged him back and never wanted to let go. "Yes, yes...by love..." She sighed distractedly.

They pulled out of their embrace and looked at each other. Hermione pointed down at the ground and said, "Knife."

"What?"

"There's a knife." She repeated jabbing her finger towards the ground. Draco looked down and there was a knife on the ground laying on a tree root. He grinned innocently and bent down and picked it up.

"What are you going to do with it?" Hermione queried.

"What it was put here for." He smiled. Hermione just shook her head and bent down next to him.

Draco grasped the knife and etched something into the tree trunk, holding his other hand over it to hide it from Hermione's view. When he was done he pulled away to show her what he had done.

He carved a heart with the initials DM & HG into the tree trunk.

Hermione ran her fingers over the carved heart and over their initials and then looked back at Draco. She immediately noticed that Draco's outline was fading away, and she looked down at her own body and noticed it was getting clearer and clearer by the second...their time was up.

Draco looked down at his own body and then surveyed Hermione's. When he realized what was happening he began to cry; but Hermione just smiled.

"No! No, Hermione, I don't want to leave you...I want to be with you..." He begged.

"Draco, thank you so much for letting me live." Hermione smiled, "Just promise me one thing..."

"Anything." Draco responded quickly.

"Watch over me..."

Draco cried even harder and struggled to clear his eyes of tears to look into Hermione's eyes. "I will always..." he promised.

Hermione just smiled peacefully and pulled Draco into another hug. Draco hugged back and cried gently onto her shoulder.

There was a blinding flash of light that forced the two of them apart.

Draco panicked and shouted into the light, "Hermione?"

There was no response.

"HERMIONE? HERMIONE!" Draco cried. "I LOVE YOU!"

"I'll never forget you Draco, thank you..." Hermione replied softly, and she was gone.

........

A/N: Next chapter is the last one! PLEASE REVIEW!